Adaptation finance must rise tenfold — but actual flows have barely moved in six years

International public adaptation finance flows to developing countries vs. targets and needs, US$ billion per year

US$187–359bn

current annual adaptation finance gap

~10×

more than current flows needed, per UNEP AGR 2026

Actual flows (prior years)

Actual flows (2024, provisional)

Glasgow Pact goal (by 2025)

Modelled finance need (by 2035)

Actual adaptation flows to developing countries grew by less than US$12bn over six years, while the annual finance gap has widened to between US$187bn and US$359bn. The UNEP AGR 2026 finds that current flows must rise roughly tenfold — a scale of mobilisation that no existing pledge comes close to achieving.